Summer Plans

This picture has nothing to do with this post, but I took a picture a while back, and it has sat on my camera ever since. It made me laugh like crazy! So, it might as well go on this post! I can even make it work - summer has some GREAT smells! Flowers, hiking (LOTS of smells I love while hiking), freshly cut grass, barbeques, etc. :-)

People ask my all the time what I am going to do with three whole months off from work. Here are my plans:

• Tutoring. I am working as a reading tutor for two kids in a family. I spend two hours a day there, one hour with each child. It is perfect because it gets me up and going, provides some fun money, but is a short enough amount of time that I still feel like I am taking a break from working.
• Cleaning. My goal is to really deep clean my house from top to bottom. I figure if I do this each summer I can keep it decently clean through the school year when it seems to get neglected.
• Running. I want to run a 1/2 marathon this fall. The idea both thrills and terrifies me. I am at four miles right now. I have a long way to go!
• Reading. During the school year I fall out of the habit of reading since I don't have a lot of extra time. This summer I want to read a book a week. Any suggestions?
• Hiking. One of my all time favorite things. And lots of opportunities to hike around here in the summer!
• Relaxing. Yep, gotta do some of that.
  
• Volunteering. I am spending all next week volunteering at a camp. I am very excited to get away and enjoy the great outdoors.
  
• Decorating. I really want to get my kitchen and my bedroom decorated. I've lived there a year, and still have nothing on the walls. I wish I had more of an eye for decorating!
  
• Trips! Yellowstone with my family, Salt Lake to visit Karl & Liz and friends, Provo for a literary conference and Education Week, Wyoming to visit Paula, YAY!
  
• Working. The whole "Summers Off" thing is a myth. Yes, there is more free time, but I will need to start spending time in my classroom as soon as they get the carpet put in to begin getting ready for next year. I don't mind, though. In all honesty, I already miss it!

What are your fun summer plans?

Thankful Thursday #17

Going with my healthful theme of the week, today I am thankful for Wheat Bread. Years ago I decided to make the switch from white to wheat bread. At the time I did it because of the health reasons. What I didn't realize is that I would enjoy wheat bread far more than white (and coming from a person who LOVES carbs, that is saying something!) I am not picky when it comes to wheat bread. I like the real kinds (not the stuff that tastes like white bread, but is slightly brown in color) and find that Multi-Grains such as this one are my favorite.

I usually get whatever brand is on sale, and enjoy them all. I love the texture and taste of wheat breads. I honestly can not imagine going back to white bread!

This is one of my newest food favorites (aka obsessions) - toast a piece of multi-grain bread. Spread some mashed avocado. Top with sliced tomato. Season to taste.

Not low calorie (thanks to the avocado) but healthy, full of nutrients, and seriously DIVINE! I eat this often for dinner. Thank heaven for really good wheat bread!

Bountiful Baskets

One of my summer goals is to get to the point where I feel good about my health and my body. To do this, I am attempting to work out regularly, as well as eating WAY more fruits and vegetables. I have always loved fruits and vegetables, but they are pretty expensive! I have heard about Bountiful Baskets for years, but I never thought to buy one because I thought it would be more food than I, as a single person, could eat on my own. A Bountiful Basket is something that you order at the beginning of the week, and pick up on Saturday. It costs $15, and is filled with all sorts of fruits and vegetables. I decided that it was worth a try, and now I am hooked! Here is my BB from last Saturday:

It included:

1 Watermelon
1 Cantaloupe
4 pears
4 peaches
7 apples
4 bananas
4 tomatoes
4 yellow peppers
4 artichokes
3 onions
2 large bunches of spinach
1 bunch Romain lettuce
1 bag of multi colored peppers

All of the produce in the BB is GORGEOUS! While you don't know what you will get when you order one, I have never been disappointing with the contents of a BB. Since starting this I find that I am eating WAY more fruits and vegetables, planning my meals around them, and trying things I usually wouldn't. I actually manage to go through most of it in a week. When I get more than I know I can handle, I give it away. I figure for $15 I am still coming out ahead. If you live near a BB location (check their website) I would HIGHLY recommend you give them a try. It is SO much fun!

A Little Bit Girlie

This week I had my very first real pedicure. I have had one before, but it was at the beauty college. Though it was also a fun experience, this experience was a little different. There were massage chairs, a great leg massage, and some really cool toe art! I went with a purple polish with some flower embellishments. This it what it looked like:

I never thought I would put a picture of my toe on the internet

I was so impressed with the flowers she painted on! She did it so quick, and it turned out so pretty! I find myself staring at my toes every now and again, They look so pretty! I could really get into this whole pedicure thing!

A Different Kind of Perfect

The test results have come back, and sweet little Aubrey does indeed have Down's Syndrome. On Sunday I told my Relief Society Secretary that they thought my new niece had either Down's or Turner's Syndrome. She has a little brother with Down's Syndrome, and works extensively with the Special Olympics. This was her reaction:

"CONGRATULATIONS!!! Oh that is so exciting! If I don't get one on my own, I plan on adopting a child with disabilities!"

How wonderful would it be if we all reacted that way to news of a baby with disabilities? A world where we realize that Heavenly Father sent them this way, and that they are still perfect, just in a different way. After all, what is normal?

Karl & Liz have been amazing through it all. On Liz's blog she wrote: "Sometimes our lives don't always go the direction we originally saw it going, but that doesn't mean the road we end up taking won't be just as fulfilling and satisfying as we had first planned."

We are so excited to have this tiny child in our family. She is a miracle. She is a darling sweetheart. She is perfect.

On the door of the NICU there is the following essay. I have thought it so profound since the first time I read it:

Welcome to Holland
By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

I for one am very excited for this journey to Holland. I love this little girl, and feel very blessed to be her aunt!

Another niece, fresh from heaven!

Meet my newest niece:



Aubrey Elizabeth

Aubrey was born this week, much to the delight of her two big sisters, and her large and loving extended family!

The day she was born her oxygen levels were not where they like to see them, so they put her into the NICU. After starting her on an antibiotic, her numbers have been steadily improving and she is doing much better! I finally got to go and meet her yesterday. She is the sweetest little thing you have ever met. Very content, and ALERT when she decides to wake up!

Aubrey has some signs that could indicate that she has either Downs or Turners syndrome. They have done some tests and sent them off, though we wont know the results for a while. Whatever the outcome, we already love this sweet spirit and are grateful to have her in our family!

Welcome, Aubrey!

Year 2 In Numbers

I know it has been a while since I posted. It has been a crazy, hectic week. The kind where you just keep going and hope everything gets done that needs to be! I finished another year of school, and got a brand new niece (more on that to come). While I get to stay in my current classroom for next year, I am getting new carpet over the summer, so I had to pack up EVERYTHING in my classroom in such a way they could easily get in to carpet. After many hours this is what it now looks like:

Honestly, I hate my classroom like this. It is so dreary and depressing! Though I am excited about getting new carpet. Here are the stats from my second year of teaching:

180 - Days of school
21 - number of new first graders coming into my class
2 - number of students who moved in through the year
1 - student who moved out
22 - number of students at the end of the year
11 - number of girls
12 - number of boys
2 - throw up incidents
2 - Field Trips
0 - Broken bones! YAY!
Lots of smiles, giggles, and fun times!

The last day of school is what I tell my students is a happy/sad day. We are all happy for a break, and ready for it, but it is sad because we have become a class family. It was such a great year! My students were awesome, I learned so much, and am excited to get to teach again next year (though AFTER a good long break!)